title: An integrated portable Raman sensor with nanofabricated gold bowtie array substrates for energetics detection.
abstract: An integrated field-portable surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing system has been developed and evaluated for quantitative analysis of energetics such as perchlorate (ClO(4)(-)) and trinitrotoluene (TNT) at environmentally relevant concentrations and conditions. The detection system consists of a portable Raman spectrometer equipped with an optical fiber probe that is coupled with novel elevated gold bowtie nanostructural arrays as a sensitive and reproducible SERS substrate. Using the standard addition technique, we show that ClO(4)(-) and TNT can be quantified at concentrations as low as 0.66 mg L(-1) (or ~6.6 µM) and 0.20 mg L(-1) (~0.9 µM), respectively, in groundwater samples collected from selected military sites. This research represents the first step toward the development of a field SERS sensor which may permit rapid, in situ screening and analysis for various applications including national security, chemical, biological and environmental detection.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. abuhatabna@ornl.gov
authors.forename: Nahla A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Hatab
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.forename: Scott T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Retterer
authors.forename: Gyula
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eres
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Hatzinger
authors.forename: Baohua
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D010472:Perchlorates / Q000032:analysis*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014303:Trinitrotoluene / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010472:Perchlorates; D014303:Trinitrotoluene; D006046:Gold; C494474:perchlorate